For years, state and local police departments have been piggybacking on federal investigations and statutes that allow for the forfeiture of property derived from or involved in criminal activity. While the law was intended to deprive criminals of the ill-gotten fruits of their illegal labor, too many police departments began seizing cash and property from people who were never convicted or even charged with a crime. (So much so that in 2014, Americans lost more to civil asset forfeiture than they did to burglary or robbery.)

Plano, Texas is just the latest city to upgrade its 911 system to receive text messages, but as local NBC news reported, not all area counties or cities have the same option. Clearly, the ability to text (rather than call) 911 can save your life, and may be the only option for the hearing impaired. And the more cities and counties that get on board, the better.

But texting 911 isn't available nationwide yet, so here's what you need to know.

This week, drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was found guilty on 10 counts of drug trafficking and is expected to receive life without parole. But those 10 charges fail to encompass the decades-long career of a man who murdered rival cartel heads, escaped twice from Mexican high-security jails, and amassed an estimated $15 billion dollars in drug revenues.

That got us thinking about other notorious drug traffickers, so here's our list of five of the biggest kingpins of all time, and how they were brought to justice.

While there were a few twists and turns, it appears that the saga of the El Chapo trial is over for now. After about 34 hours of deliberation, a jury found El Chapo guilty of all 10 federal criminal counts against him. The federal criminal charges included the use of firearms, international distribution of drugs, money laundering, and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. While all of these are serious charges, he's facing a mandatory life sentence for his criminal enterprise conviction.

Despite Alabama prisons allowing Christian ministers and spiritual advisors to attend executions, and despite a last-minute appeal from a Muslim death row inmate to have his imam accompany him at his execution, and despite the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision to stay his execution in order to hear his First Amendment arguments, the Supreme Court ordered the man's execution yesterday.

Dominique Ray was put to death last night via lethal injection at a state prison in Atmore, without his imam present.

Not if you're in prison in Iowa, where a state law prohibits distributing "any commercially published information or material to an inmate when such information or material is sexually explicit or features nudity." That's casting a pretty wide net, and 13 inmates at the Anamosa State Penitentiary sued the state, claiming the statute violates their First Amendment rights.

Fifty-six million lives were potentially saved this week in a record-setting drug bust near the Nogales, Arizona border crossing. The hero? A drug sniffing dog. Man's best friend sniffed out 254 pounds of fentanyl, along with 395 pounds of methamphetamine, hidden in the lower compartment of a tractor-trailer truck carrying cucumbers across the border from Mexico.

Though 85 percent of trafficked fentanyl comes into the United States near San Diego, a growing number of drug imports are now being seen at the Nogales crossing, presumably because it is nearest the Sinaloa cartel. This tractor-trailer was driven by a 26-year-old Hispanic man, who was subsequently arrested and charged with possessing drugs with the intent to distribute, which has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Authorities will surely question him to see where he was coming from, and of equal importance, where he was going.

Imagine facing 25 years in jail, accused of possessing heroin with intent to sell, and yet having no idea that you even had a scrap of drugs on you. One would think that's a possibility on a vacation in Mexico, but not driving around in your new-to-you used van in Florida.

For the most part, federal law enforcement decided to take a hands-off approach to state weed regulation. That was until Donald Trump was elected and his new attorney general Jeff Sessions blew all that up. But it appears Trump's selection to replace Sessions, William Barr, differs quite a bit from his predecessor when it comes to federal enforcement of drug laws in legalized states.

About FindLaw Blotter

FindLaw Blotter is a crime blog dedicated to covering crime news and notorious, newsworthy and weird happenings in the criminal justice system, with an emphasis on answering the legal questions that lurk in the background of each story. Have a comment or tip? Write to us.